Currently February....I'm not even going to say "ALREADY?" because that just goes without saying....

Listening: To Pandora while I work on a project. I love that I get to choose exactly what I want to listen to. I can listen to the same music I did when I was high school and pretend I am still that young (and thin...and...and....and...)

Loving: Donor's Choose. I received 2 projects this month. I'm in the middle of completing my thank you packages and I can't even express how thankful I am for this program. :) Not to mention the wonderful people that donated to my projects!

Thinking: I should clean more.

Wanting: Next up on my list is a Fitbit. I'm a data nerd and if my data stats are on my wrist it might motivate me to do more.....

Needing: More time to get stuff done. I'm a tad overwhelmed at work right now. I wish I had more time to get things done so I don't feel so underwater all the time. Just cleaning out my inbox is a struggle right now....and that's just not how I do things!

My title? The QUEEN of procrastination. I really do rock the title. It's one of my best qualities. :)

Now go check out the fabulous Farley and all the other Currently peeps. Yes....I know I'm too old too old to use that term. I teach Kindergarten, it's my excuse for everything!

Not a sprinkle, just a good ol' drizzle all day long. We didn't see the sun once.

#1

Writer's Workshop was amazing this week! We wrote books with a focus on personal narratives. They were so engaged and excited to share their creations. Kindergarten is amazing :)

#2 Alphabet Hats!

We made alphabet hats this week and the kiddos LOVED them!

#3 We tried out my new sight word activities this week too. The kids love these little dice and I love them because they don't make any noise! They can toss them as hard as they want and they are virtually silent. It's the little things in Kinder that make your day.

I made a couple of different themes. I can't wait for Valentine's Day!

#4 Organizing centers. It's a struggle. Always a struggle! I made this wheel to create a little organization in our extension Kinder program. I think it's been working out! Just turn the wheel and everybody switches centers. Easy peasy :)

#5

That's all I've got! I'm exhausted, my feet hurt, and I brought home way too many projects to work on this weekend. Kindergarten is hard work. The. End.

Enjoy your weekends friends! And don't forget to link up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday!

It's already time to go back to work, can you believe it? I feel like I worked all weekend but that's ok because now I'm really prepped for tomorrow and that's a good thing. Right?

Here is a quick Peek at my Week!

Here are the products I am using this week:

Goldilocks and the Three Bears:

I've been waiting forever to use this unit. It was so much fun to make. All of my centers and morning work will come from this unit this week:

I'm also excited about the addition of 3 iPads to my classroom this week so now I have enough to make it a center! It's time to get some big iPad projects started!

Writer's Workshop will be all about finishing up our Personal Narratives unit. This unit from Deanna Jump and Deedee Wills has been fantastic!

Click the pic to see in Deanna's store.

For math we will be finishing up Unit 4 of Guiding Kinders (also by Deanna and Deedee....can you tell I love them?) with a little subtraction.

Click to see in Deanna's store.

Here are a few reasons why I love these units! Great interaction with kiddos, partner work, and independent practice.

I will also be using my Freezing Friends Centers again this week in my math tubs. They really liked these activities last week!

Click on the pic to see in my store.

I'm also excited about a lot of activities that WON'T be happening in my classroom. We have a unique half day Kinder program which includes the students staying at school all day, but only attending the traditional Kindergarten classroom half day. The rest of the day they are with an aide and attend specials, have recess, and do regular centers in the extension classroom. This weekend I did all the planning for the extension classroom so it inspired me to get busy with some new creations.

Along with Computers, iPads, and a fun craft center students will be exploring with these fun sight word centers.

That's my week! I hope all the extra time I put in this weekend makes the week go off without a hitch! We can always hope right?

Have you ever noticed that some things work better than other depending on the day?

The mood?

The current phase of the moon?

Well if you teach Kindergarten you might know what I mean. Some days activities go great and on another given day it might fall flat.

I have a few standbys that I LOVE and they work on any given day!

I love to change them up to practice new skills but for the most part they are always the same. Very few directions needed and more time to explore. That's a win win.

Scoot Activities

Now I'm not sure who figured this out or who coined the phrase but I discovered them in 1st grade last year and they are just what busy little bodies need to keep working. In this Scoot activity I have cards hung around the room with snowflakes for my kiddos to count. They visit each card, count the snowflakes, and then record the number on the recording sheet. I keep mine in a clear pocket protector so the kiddos can record with a dry erase marker and I don't have to make copies (or waste paper).

Ten Frames

Ten frame cards are good for all kinds of counting activities. I included these in my math tubs this week so my kiddos could practice the teen numbers. You can include playdough (and they can make the numbers with it too) or they can use fun counters. Some of our favorites are these little gems, mini erasers, and pennies.

Roll and Record

These are always a big hit my room. Students roll a dice and simply record the information. It can be numbers (and adding 2 numbers), sight words, letters, and in this case shapes. We love these!

These simple centers have made this week a flawless! Things could not be going any better. It's always a good thing when someone comes to observe and they tell you your kiddos are so well behaved. Engaging activities are key!

It's "Sunday" afternoon.....well, in my mind it is. It's time to get those lesson plans ready and get in gear for tomorrow.

Teacher Confession #62: I always forget 3 day weekends. Not when I am enjoying them of course, but when I am planning. I wrote out my lesson plans and planned for Monday. Um, not gonna work! I had to go back and rework them to NOT include Monday.

How could I forget this? Had a great weekend enjoying the AZ sunshine!

I stepped away from the computer long enough to take a little hike this weekend. We all had a great time and agreed we need to get out more. We live in a pretty amazing place!

So with great memories in the books, now it's time for a Peek at my Week...Click on my plans to see them via Google Docs

Here are the products I am using this week to make it all happen! Click on any of the products to see them up close.

Kindergarten Morning Word Work:

We are working on consonant blends this week and our morning work will be a great introduction.

One Little Mouse Centers:

Lots of fun centers this week with this one!

For Writer's Workshop:

Click to see in Deanna's store

I love these units! They keep my workshop model in my classroom on track. I am sticking with the same writing lessons I taught last week. We had SO many absences last week we didn't make much progress.

Click to see in Deanna's store

Same goes with Guiding Kinders, I need to do a little reviewing after missing over half of my kiddos to the flu last week. We are a little bit of a stand still in this department but we will catch it all up this week!

Math tubs will be brand new this week. When I wasn't enjoying the sunshine this weekend I was finishing up these centers:

I am putting all the new math centers in my math tubs this week. The kiddos are going to be so excited!

I took one center and put it together for a freebie if you would like.

It's all about composing numbers 11-19.

We all need extra help with those right!

Click on the picture to grab it.

I hope you enjoy it!

That's it! Have a great week friends and don't forget to link up with Deedee at Mrs. Wills' Kindergarten for Peek at my Week!

The flu is AWFUL in our tiny town right now. Especially for my kiddos. I had 10 out of 23 students in class most of the week. (that was just one class, the 2nd class wasn't much better). I had some students that were absent all week. I'm praying this weekend everyone gets over this flu and we can get back to normal on Tuesday. I'm also worried about my kids! Scary stuff out there.

You would think it would be a quiet with half the class gone but that was not true. Oddly enough it was more work for the teacher because the few that were there were either coughing, grouchy, sleepy, or just plain off the wall because everything was so strange. I'm ready to leave this week behind for sure!

We did manage some fun stuff this week though, here is my Five for Friday:

Lots of tardy slips this week. Along with students being gone most of the class is coming in late. I'm ready for spring!

Our school resource officer came in to answer questions for the kiddos this week. They were so attentive to him and asked great questions (with only a few reminders not to tell stories). This is a difficult skill for Kinders!

Our new rug has finally found it's resting spot in our room. I only moved it about 10 times before I decided where it would fit. The possibilities with this rug are endless! Here we are in our "math circle" during math workshop. Sitting around the edges of the rug works perfectly.

Math tubs were so much fun (again because of the rug!) this week because I "let it go" (don't start singing the song) and filled the tubs with all of our oldies but goodies. I was really trying to keep on track with all of our new activities but the kids LOVE using these older activities. If it works and it's good practice I'm leaving it in the tub!

Peg work is great for manual dexterity!

Roll and record: Counting, adding, and graphing

10 frame cards and cubes are ALWAYS good practice in Kinder!

My husband is so funny. Not haha funny but funny. I found this as I was leaving the classroom Friday afternoon. He keeps my grounded.

That's my Five! Your turn to link up with Doodle Bugs Teaching, or just head on over to check out what's happening out there!